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Colossal best wishes for the holidays from the squid

It’s Christmas time at Te Papa and the team behind the colossal squid exhibition wishes squid fans everywhere a happy and safe time over the holidays.

It’s been a colossal year in many ways – and we’ve finished it by bringing to you the only display in the world of a colossal squid.

We know some of you are disappointed that the squid isn’t bigger! Some of you think we’ve got a bigger and better colossal squid out the back somewhere.

But no! this is our biggest colossal squid. It’s not a giant squid remember. A giant squid is a completely different kind of squid, called Architeuthis dux.

We think our colossal squid is big enough. She weighs 495 kilograms – which is about 660 Christmas puddings or more than 1,000 pavlovas.

The colossal squid is also a special creature because at this time of year it reminds us of the planet we share, the things we still have to discover about it and our need to care for it in the future.